Aiforsite’s first webinar was held on Thursday, March 31, entitled “Halve the programme time of a construction site and double its profitability”. It was gratifying to see that the webinar attracted widespread interest among construction companies and industry players. We have got participants from YIT, Skanska, Peab, NCC, Cramo, Sweco, A-Insinöörit, Confederation of Finnish Construction Industries RT, Congrid and others.
In the webinar, we talked about ways to use the data collected on the site in decision-making. In the demo section of the webinar, Aiforsite’s COO Pyry Virrantaus presented the operation of Aiforsite’s system live with the example of an ongoing construction project (with the customer’s permission).
Participants were particularly interested in
- means for removing obstacles to production and making work more efficient
- the positioning information system and employees’ privacy issues
- occupational safety aspects in the pre-planning and implementation phase
- Possibilities of using Aiforsite’s solution in various projects
Digital surveillance on a site is becoming almost a must-have
One webinar participant stated at the end that “digital surveillance on the site is becoming almost a must-have”. The purpose of digital monitoring is not to track an individual employee but to monitor work progress in a specific production area and the entire construction site. Does reality match the planned schedule? What should we do to stay on schedule or catch up? Are the preconditions for the next work in order?
Productivity begins to improve by keeping the entire site at the same pace. Site management succeeds more easily with the help of smart digital solutions that handle data collection and analysis on behalf of people.
Digital tools help daily site management
New digital tools on construction sites are still a relatively new thing, but let’s remember the electronic employee attendance tracking system. When it landed on construction sites 10 to 15 years ago, resistance was initially strong, especially from the unions. The change took time, but today, employee attendance tracking is a matter of course. Drones, 360 videos, cameras, positioning data, etc., undergo a similar change in their life cycle. The moment is close when they are in use on every construction site.
Foreman, is your situational snapshot real-time?
To stay up-to-date and on schedule, site management needs a truly real-time situational snapshot, whatever the form of production. When the snapshot is formed from data collected regularly and almost automatically, it provides a completely different basis for site management decision-making. It is no longer necessary to rely solely on the contractors’ weekly reports. The site manager can check the situation in real-time from the site camera or positioning information system.
“From what I have seen, I could believe that the programme time would be shortened”
This was stated by another participant in the webinar at the end of the event. A new and unknown thing always requires thorough reflection and, above all, understanding.
What are our needs, and what are the benefits of this new solution? Is the solution scalable? How much effort does it take for us to deploy? Is this a cost or an investment? How quickly and in what form does it pay for itself?
Webinar attendees asked many different questions, and we had a good discussion about them. It’s good to continue with this! We will organise more webinars on various topics.
At the end of the spring, May 31, 2022, we will also host a larger event for site operations management. The program for the event will be published soon.
A comprehensive solution for productivity analytics and real-time situational snapshots
Aiforsite is the only all-in-one solution for productivity analytics and real-time snapshots in construction. One interface with many data sources. Site management gets a lot of useful information from the system immediately.
- You can see what is happening on the construction site right now (even remotely)
- The 360 video shows the progress of the indoor work phase every week
- The drone image combined with the 3D model of the site can be utilised, for example, in a site layout planning
- The before and after comparison of the drone images shows the progress of the construction site from a bird’s eye view
- The above devices are tools for visual documentation of the site
- Positioning information serves efficient use of resources and site safety
- Production area- and task-specific productivity analytics help extract benefits from the data collected
- Concrete casting sensors indicate, e.g. the degree of concrete’s drying and defined strength when the mould can be dismantled
- The air humidity and temperature sensor data shows whether the conditions are favourable for painting work, for example.
